Old Friends And Old Cars

Wednesday September 26th, 2007 - Kenosha, WI/Waukegan, IL

An unexpected day today on many fronts. Tim Walkoe called out of the blue and asked if I could fill in for him on a private show in a few weeks. It’s on a Wednesday night and I am available so that’s a win/win for everyone. He gets out of it and I get a few bucks. It’s a situation all performers get into and when someone can cover in a pinch it’s a big relief.

Money is not the issue it has been recently because I’ve been working a lot. I am trying to keep good records so taxes will be easier than ever this coming year and I also am back to at least reasonable levels of being behind on emails, calls and keeping in touch with old friends. One of those is a guy named Pete Christensen. He gave me my first shots on radio and TV. We had lunch today and I apologized for inflicting brutality on his audiences then.

Pete is truly a kind soul. He had a radio show on a college station in Milwaukee and also did a public access TV show long before that was hip and cool. Not only did he act as the host he was the director, writer, promoter, talent coordinator, makeup artist and at times a referee. I met Pete when I was just starting but like me he had wanderlust and left town as soon as he had the opportunity. We wanderers know what that’s like and we just go for it.

Pete lived in Vancouver for a while and then Seattle before finally settling in Phoenix for many years. He was doing some comedy and working as a director for a TV news show at a local station. When I was working in radio in Reno and Salt Lake City he would phone a few bits in once in a while and we tried to keep in touch as much as two wandering cheese head comedians could do. I hadn’t heard from him in a while and was glad he called me.

He dropped a bombshell when he apologized for not being in better touch lately. I told him I could have been as well but he said no. He was out of touch for several years as he was recovering from throat cancer. WOW. Total shock. I had no idea. He went through all the nasty horrors of chemotherapy and had a tumor removed but he looks fine now.

We had a long lunch and talked about a lot of things. He can’t taste much of anything so he picked around at a little bit of food but didn’t eat much. He gets treatment in Zion, IL a few miles away and has family in Kenosha that he visits when he’s back this way. He had a fantastic attitude and always was a very down to earth person you can’t help but like a lot.

I showed him a copy of my CD that had his name in it in the thank yous and I could see it really touched him and made him feel important. He IS important. Pete was a supporter of local bands and comedians for many years and I never thought he got credit for doing it as much as he did. Maybe that’s because he wasn’t loud and obnoxious and out for only a few bucks for himself. Pete is good hearted and helps others. We really had a great visit.

One thing we are both sharing is a feeling of gratitude that grows every day. We walked through a couple of thrift stores because Pete likes them too and just relaxed and had FUN on a Wednesday afternoon. Not many people in down any town can take a day off and just go goof around all day. We both realized just how lucky both of us are and we enjoyed it.

No matter what other problems I might have that’s not one of them. Cancer is ugly. It’s not quick like a heart attack or a stroke. Oh no. It makes a person LINGER. I will always do all I can to help out any cancer curing causes because my grandfather died from it back in 1981. They used a lot of experimental drugs on him because he volunteered for them all so he could maybe live one day longer. He fought death to the very bitter ugly painful end.

I admire guys like Pete and Robert Schimmel who plow through cancer and keep up the fight. I’m not so sure I’d fight that hard. This world is insane and I like my chances for the next one if indeed there is one. I might just want to close up shop and move on to the next life wherever that is. I just hope it’s not back here. There are too many other places to see.

Pete and I talked about all that kind of stuff and it really was a stimulating conversation. It made my problems seem very small and we talked about that too. I remember how small they seemed when I had my car accident in 1993. It changes perspective in a hurry and lets one know what’s really important and what isn’t. Pete said his viewpoint has changed too.

It was a gorgeous day and we squeezed a lot out of it. On the ride to drop Pete off back at his brother’s house in Kenosha the transmission on my Honda began to slip a little. I’m used to cars breaking down so I didn’t panic. Pete was a little concerned. ‘Do you think it will make it to Kenosha?’ I just looked at him and smiled. ‘I don’t know.’ I said. ‘Are you feeling lucky today?’ He smiled too. After our talk about life and death and cancer and all the other deep topics we hit a little bit of car trouble on a sunny day would not rattle us.

It started to get even worse and it looked like we wouldn’t make it but we did. It would be an inconvenience but not a catastrophe even if the car was a total loss. I have squeezed my money out of it from the auction and it’s paid for and I’m ahead of the game. I’d like a few more miles out of it because it’s a great road car but if it dies it dies. No hard feelings.

I dropped Pete off and started heading slowly for Waukegan to go to the car auction. If I don’t have good timing in anything else I do with the car auction. I drove carefully to get there and I made it right about 4:30 when inspection starts for the cars to be auctioned off. I couldn’t have had any better timing so I put down my deposit and browsed the selection.

This process is like fishing to me. I love it and it relaxes me. Crawling into one car after the next and starting it up and popping the hood and looking for leaks somehow makes me forget about my problems for a while. There are enough regulars there that I have people I talk to about the cars and nothing else. We don’t know each other’s names or anything but ‘how that Ford Taurus sounds’ etc. They’re probably forgetting about their problems too.

I ended up getting a ‘93 Mitsubishi Mirage. It’s a nice little four door nondescript sedan with 113,000 miles on it and new tires too. I bid on it because a dealer wanted it and that’s a good sign. They know what to look for. I’ve piggybacked on them before. They know a price they need to stop bidding so they can make a profit. If I make one more bid I usually get the car and that’s what happened today. The bidding reached $600 and the dealer was out. I bid $625 and got the car. I drove it home and it really drives nice. I think I did ok.